


Cold as Ice

by dragons_and_angels



Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Cold Weather, Insecurity, M/M, Mild Angst, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Ugly Sweaters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-20
Updated: 2019-11-20
Packaged: 2021-02-16 07:34:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21504202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragons_and_angels/pseuds/dragons_and_angels
Summary: David loves how warm Patrick is, but he really wishes his boyfriend didn't think everyone else was the same.Prompt was 'David runs cold in the summer, so winters are not fun for him. He owns a few truly ugly heavy duty sweaters he would never admit to, but 1) past partners have found them "incredibly boner-killing," and, 2) Patrick runs hot, so David isn't about to suggest they turn up the heat, because as much as he wants to see Patrick strip, David doesn't want it to be because Patrick is uncomfortable. So David is freezing all the time, and tries not to let Patrick notice. Patrick notices.'
Relationships: Patrick Brewer/David Rose
Comments: 22
Kudos: 416





	Cold as Ice

**Author's Note:**

> So, this was done in response to a prompt for Schitt's Creek Frozen Over Challenge but it was only when I was posting it that I realised it was closed to new works. Oops. Thank you very much to whoever prompted this (since it was anon) and I hope you enjoy it!

One of the many things David loves about Patrick is how warm he is. Patrick has very good circulation and when he puts his hands on David, they're always warm. A small side effect of him running hotter than David was how he walked around in T-shirts in January (which David would never dream of complaining about) and protested when David turned the temperature up in the store.

"People don't like to be baked when they come into the store, David," Patrick said when he turned the temperature down. David frowned down at the toner that he was rearranging and looked up at his boyfriend.

"You run hotter than many people. If our store is cold, it would drive people out of it and into the nice warm cafe. I read an article about how temperature can affect how people view things. Like you're more likely to make a good impression on people when they're warm and comfortable or how their view on a product can be more negative if they were cold." David was always cold nowadays but he had gotten used to it. The only time he wasn't cold was for about three weeks in the summer when he dared to wear T-shirts without wanting to climb under a blanket and stay there.

"You read an article, huh?" A note of amusement had crept into Patrick's tone and David had to suppress a smile at the well-known teasing note of his voice.

"Well, maybe one or two articles." He had wanted to be prepared when Patrick wanted the store to be colder.

"Well, you run colder than most people and I don't want to drive people out into the fresh air because they find the store stuffy." Patrick smiled at what could only be a look of outrage on David's face. "I'll go for a compromise. Normal room temperature, eighteen degrees." He turned the thermostat up from where he had put it and David resigned himself to being cold at the store. He briefly thought about getting one of his warmer sweaters out of retirement but dismissed the notion as quickly as it came. No one wanted to see him wearing one of those hideous things and it definitely did not fit in with the aesthetic of the store.

By the end of the day, David and Patrick headed back to his new apartment for some well-deserved alone time. David hadn't finished helping Patrick decorate but he still felt more at home there than he ever really had at the motel, his family and Stevie aside. Even the apartment he had in New York felt more like a showroom than Patrick's apartment and that had been all his.

He hunched down against the wind and envied Patrick's ability to just wear that plain coat he had on. The man looked gorgeous in everything and clothes that made David look frumpy and unattractive just made Patrick even more lovely. David would be prepared to admit that it was love-tinted glasses if he hadn't seen a number of the patrons of his store checking Patrick out. It was understandable, Patrick was extremely pleasing to look at, but it made David even more determined to not touch any of his warmer sweaters. That would be the first signal that David was letting things go and the next step would be him going out without doing his hair or forgoing his twice-daily skin routine. It was one of the first things his mother had taught him - if you didn't look after your appearance, how did you expect anyone to look on you favourably? He knew Patrick loved him for more than his looks, but he also knew what had attracted Patrick to him at first glance and it hadn't been his charming personality.

They got to Patrick's apartment but to David, there was no difference between the temperature inside the place to outside, apart from there was no wind. He stood up tall and pretended he didn't want to hunch down and shiver as Patrick took off his own coat and started to potter around the place. Despite it being far colder than the eighteen degrees it had been in the store, Patrick didn't even touch the thermostat and looked perfectly comfortable as he looked through the fridge for food to make for dinner.

David opened his mouth to ask him to turn the heat up and then remembered their earlier conversation. He could debate with Patrick about the temperature of the store and he could argue with Alexis about the temperature of the motel room because they both partly belonged to him, but he couldn't tell Patrick to make himself uncomfortable in his own home.

He glanced at the bed and saw there was only two blankets on the bed, not the usual six David had on his bed at home. Patrick knew he wore long sleeves to bed so that wouldn't come as a surprise but he couldn't wear one of his hideous sweaters to bed like he sometimes did at the motel.

Knowing he had been stood there far too long, David moved to the bathroom (thankfully with door now), though it was even colder than the rest of the apartment. He washed his hands in warm water which stung on his cold hands and wondered if he could persuade Patrick to light the fire. Happy with this plan, David turned the tap off and dried his hands on the towel nearby. They were red, almost scalded from the temperature of the water but David ignored them.

He could do this. He and Patrick finally had some alone time, he could ignore how cold he was and just enjoy being close to Patrick.

He could not do this. Patrick had agreed to light the fire, he had been eager to do so ever since he had moved into this apartment and David had relished eating and snuggling with his boyfriend in front of the open fire. It had been almost unbearably romantic and David had been warmer than he had been since he left the motel room this morning.

And then Patrick had started to complain about how hot it was and had opened one of the windows, letting the freezing wind inside the apartment. David had almost bitten through his tongue as he had wanted to protest but then remembered the whole thing about this being Patrick's apartment and he should be comfortable in his own home.

Patrick had snuggled closer on the couch and David had wrapped himself around his boyfriend, unable to properly enjoy the sensation of Patrick being pressed against him because he was too busy thinking about how cold his back was and how soon he could get under the covers of the bed and not get out until the apartment was a decent temperature.

When Patrick had started to kiss him with purpose and showed signs of wanting to remove his clothes, David had almost yelped. He quickly shoved down that response and then Patrick's pants shortly afterwards, giving a very involved blowjob that had done more to distract David from the cold than anything else so far. Patrick's warm hand around his dick had felt good and David had panted out his orgasm curled up into Patrick's neck, so warmth and Patrick's scent surrounded him.

This could work. For the rest of the winter, David just had to stay wrapped up in Patrick the whole time. That wasn't a hardship.

However, it turned out that Patrick wasn't any better sleeping with someone next to him than he was at Ray's. He would start off the night with David in his arms and then through the night, he would get hot and push the covers away from him. David had the choice between staying wrapped up in his boyfriend or the covers and subsequently woke up every hour with his teeth chattering.

The next morning, David was woken up by Patrick kissing his cheek. His poor night's sleep and his sheer dislike of mornings, especially when they were freezing cold, meant he merely grunted at this show of affection.

"Rise and shine, lovebug." Patrick got extra irritating in the mornings and David pushed himself further into the blankets in defiance. He hated that pet name, how Patrick made it sound all cute and adorable, like something David would actually like to be called, when really it had 'bug' in the name and so was automatically incorrect.

"What ungodly time is this?" David managed to ask. He unclenched from his cocoon to receive the cup of coffee Patrick handed him and another kiss, this one accepted far more readily. It was absolutely freezing in Patrick's apartment but Patrick rolled around in his usual undershirt and button down and showed no signs of the cold.

"Eight thirty," Patrick answered with a smile. "I'm going to go and get the store ready for opening. Can I hope to see you sometime in the next half hour?"

"An hour," David replied. Without Patrick the bed was freezing, but David was unlikely to move out of the shower until there was absolutely no hot water left so it would definitely be an hour at least. Patrick laughed but accepted this all the same and ten minutes after he left, David managed to get out of bed and stumble to the very cold bathroom and very warm shower.

That day was even colder than the one before and David found himself getting snappy with everyone, though he tried to tone it down for the customers. Patrick gave him many confused looks and David felt the guilt start to eat away at his stomach. They got to the end of the day and Patrick left without inviting David back to his place. Despite the fact he was without Patrick and therefore things were automatically worse, he felt relieved.

He got back to the motel and turned the heating up, before getting one of his cosy sweaters out of storage and slipping it on.

"What is that, David?" Alexis asked as she looked up from where she was working on the motel website. Her eyebrows had gone sky-high and there was already a teasing glint in her eye.

"This is a sweater, Alexis." David held his chin up high as he climbed into bed, which didn't quite work as a statement but he was too comfortable to care.

"It is hideous, David."

"Go smother yourself with a pillow, Alexis," David shot back. The sweater he was wearing was double-layered, hideously bobbled and a grey colour which was obviously from poor manufacturing technique rather than intentional. One of his exes had called it 'boner-killing' and had broken up with David right after he saw him wearing it, saying they couldn't be with someone who thought that was good clothing. It was also the warmest item of clothing David owned and so he hadn't gotten rid of it, even if it had stayed in storage where no one could see it.

"Please say Patrick hasn't seen you in that." Alexis looked genuinely worried and David felt the guilt start to twist inside of him again.

"Of course he hasn't," he shot back at his sister before pulling his phone under the covers with him and texting Patrick.

_Sorry about today, just woke up on the wrong side of the bed and couldn't stop being too much._

Patrick was quick to reply and David felt a warm glow inside of him that his boyfriend had been waiting for David to contact him. It almost smothered the guilt.

_We all have those days, but maybe tell me about them and I can help?_

David highly doubted that unless Patrick would have agreed to being David's blanket the whole day but it was sweet of him to offer. He got lost in his fantasies about having Patrick plastered to him all day in the store, like a human hot water bottle who loved David and kissed him whenever he asked.

_Next time it happens I'll tell you about it._

**

After that, David got into a routine. He would spend a night with Patrick in his freezing apartment, put up with the terrible night's sleep and try not to be too grumpy the next day, lest Patrick notice a connection. The next night, he would spend it at the motel with the heat turned right up, his warmest, ugliest sweater on and wrapped up in six blankets as he slept the night away. One had Patrick, the other didn't. One meant he got sleep and warmth, the other meant he had to figure out some way of keeping warm without Patrick noticing.

He thought he was doing well until a late snowstorm in February and the motel's heating stopping working put ruin to all his plans. He was cold the entire time and while before he had been getting a good night's sleep at least every other day, now he wasn't even getting that. He couldn't complain to Patrick because he would just want David to feel all better and fix the problem, when really it would make everything worse because once again, Patrick would be the one who would have to compromise for David. So he went to Stevie.

"What is going on with the heating?" He went into the motel lobby and found Stevie wrapped up in two sweaters, a scarf and a hat. "You look like a Christmas card," he said in complete surprise at her appearance and she snarled at him.

"Some of us can't wear designer sweaters and nothing else," Stevie shot back. "And the boiler is completely gone so there is no hot water either."

"Are you serious?" Patrick would be more than happy to let David stay for a few days but his place was even colder than the motel at the moment. David swore he could see his breath overnight. Patrick and hot showers versus the chance to wear his warm sweaters and pile himself with blankets at night. There really wouldn't be any contest but the temperature was cold enough to make the choice difficult.

"No, I turned the heating off as a practical joke. Aren't you laughing?" Stevie asked. "How are you not cold right now?"

"I am so cold right now that most of my body has gone numb," David replied. "However, shivering and turning blue is not sexy so I merely do so internally."

"Sounds healthy. Why don't you go and wrap Patrick around you? I notice he wears even less clothes than you at the moment."

"Something which I very much appreciate," David added. "I can't do that too much because otherwise Patrick will find out that I'm cold and I don't want him to do that."

Stevie's eyebrows did something strange. "Because your boyfriend finding out you have actual human bodily functions would be weird? Is this like how you don't want him to see you pooping?"

David gave a full body cringe at that word. "Ew, that's disgusting. For your information, Patrick and I could be married for fifty years and I still wouldn't let him in the bathroom while I'm doing that. And no, me not wanting Patrick to find out I'm cold has nothing to do with that." Trying to explain something which he knew was inherently irrational but he still couldn't stop his brain thinking it was difficult. "Patrick runs hot," David said.

"I'm going to refrain from making the obvious joke here," Stevie said in a deadpan tone.

"I appreciate your restraint," David replied. "Patrick is very warm blooded. He wears shirts to the store because he feels like they are more professional but if he could choose he would T-shirts and shorts all the time." And David would get no work done but he would consider that a small price to pay. "Anyway, Patrick has the idea that both he and I feel the room temperature the same way, with some minor differences. He does not realise that he is like a human hot water bottle while I am an ice cube. Metaphorically speaking."

"I'm still not getting why you can't tell Patrick."

David sighed. Sometimes he thought Stevie made him explain his thoughts just so she could rip them to shreds. "Patrick will want to fix it. He turn up the temperature and make himself uncomfortable just so I can be comfortable. It's winter, I'm only comfortable ten percent of the time even with heating and blankets and warm showers."

Stevie's expression didn't change as she digested this. "Why don't you simply wear warmer clothes?"

"Because they're hideous. One of my exes saw me in one of my warm sweaters, said he hadn't realised how much of my looks were due to my clothes and then dumped me. Another ex said it the most unsexy thing she had ever seen. Then one of my friends saw it made me look ten times fatter than I actually was." David thought for a moment. "Okay, I wasn't too sad to lose her as a friend when we lost all our money."

"And you think Patrick is going to be like that?"

"No because Patrick is a nice person. He would never say anything like that but that wouldn't stop him thinking it. And yes, I do know that Patrick isn't in love with me because of my looks, I've been told more than enough times that my looks only get me so far. But I don't want to improve the chances of Patrick no longer finding me attractive by wearing an item of clothing that has been called 'incredibly boner-killing'."

"So you're just going to be cold all winter." Stevie looked unimpressed by David's reasoning.

"Winter is supposed to be over in two weeks. I don't know where all this snow came from but it needs to go now. I can survive two weeks." David nodded to himself. "Okay, I'm going to go to the store now because it is the one place where I can get halfway warm at the moment."

"You know if you told Patrick, he could make his apartment nice and toasty for you," Stevie said pointedly.

"Like I would take relationship advice from a Christmas elf." David had to hide a smile at Stevie's expression - it wouldn't do for her to think she was being funny or anything.

It turned out that Stevie wasn't the one he had to be concerned about. His sister - the complete traitor - was regaling Patrick with tales about his hideous sweater when he came back from lunch the next day.

"And its all lumpy and bobbled because David has worn it so much during the winter." Alexis' voice was gleeful as David came through the door, juggling his and Patrick's drinks and lunches.

"Really? I haven't seen it much so far." That neutral tone of voice from Patrick meant nothing good. David cursed his sister silently and resolved to tell Ted all about the time she had jumped on the back of a cow and tried to ride it like a bucking bronco.

"That's weird, he wears it all the time at the motel. Along with like six blankets because he's always cold." Alexis turned to look at David and he glared at her. "Where's mine, David?"

"Back at the motel, Alexis, where you should be. Instead of here, stealing our stuff." And screwing up David's relationship, but he wasn't going to mention that part.

Alexis eventually swanned out, leaving David and Patrick alone in the store. Patrick put down his pen in a way that indicated he was going to talk and David was either going to love it or hate it.

"So your sister mentioned a few interesting things to me," Patrick said. Oh, David was going to hate this.

"Did she? That would be a first." If only Alexis were here to actually hear the insult. Patrick didn't rise to the bait.

"Yeah, she asked me whether you had been driving me crazy with a thermostat the past few weeks as well." Patrick was looking at him now and despite knowing how guilty it made him look, David kept his head down as he organised his and Patrick's lunches and drinks on the counter. "David," Patrick said with a warning note in his voice, "why haven't you been at the thermostat like you apparently are at the motel? Alexis said you're always cold but why don't I ever see it?"

David silently wished Alexis to trip on her high heels and get something embarrassing down the front of her dress - dog shit or something. He knew he was going to tell Patrick everything but he had hoped it could have waited until next winter, when they would have a few more months under their belt and David would be more sure Patrick would stay afterward.

"I'm always cold in winter, a few degrees won't make a difference." David glanced at Patrick and saw the completely disbelieving look on his face. "Okay, I didn't tell you because you would try to fix it."

"By turning the heat up," Patrick said, in his usual matter of fact way.

"By making yourself uncomfortable simply to make me more comfortable. Let's be real, I will never be comfortable in winter and why should both of us be uncomfortable if we don't have to be?" David thought he made a very good point here but Patrick still didn't look convinced.

"And the sweater Alexis mentioned?" Patrick asked.

"It's hideous. It's bad enough Alexis saw me wearing it, there's no way I would subject you to that as well." David tried to make sure his tone was light enough but Patrick knew him far too well at this point. No one told him that when you fell in love, the other person would be able to tell if you were lying or not.

"David, I want to know these things about you. It sounds like the motel is the only place where you let yourself get warm. The store is a little different because we have our customers but why didn't you tell me you were feeling cold back at the apartment?"

"I'm not going to make you feel uncomfortable in your own home, Patrick." David made sure he was very clear about that. "The store I might have pushed if I didn't think you were going to ask questions like this, but I'm not going to ask you to make yourself feel too hot because I'm naturally cold blooded."

A muscle ticked in Patrick's jaw and David winced at the hurt he could see in his boyfriend's eyes. "Is this why you haven't been spending as much time there as you were before?"

David didn't think Patrick had noticed and the fact that he had added a warm feeling to the squiggle of guilt in his stomach. He took a sip of his drink to try and push down the feeling but it remained, even after the taste of lukewarm coffee. "It's your apartment, Patrick. You can keep it whatever temperature you like."

Patrick cursed and just then the bell rang and a customer pushed open the door.

"Hi." A woman who looked a little older than Patrick poked her head around the glass window. "Do you have any hand cream?"

David glanced at Patrick and then stood up. That was not the face of someone in a customer service kind of mood and it was mostly David's fault. "We definitely do. We have unscented and two different types of seasonal hand creams. What are you in the mood for?" Out of the corner of his eye, David noticed Patrick picking up their lunches and cups and taking them to the back.

The customer walked out half hour later with three different pots of handcream and a facial moisturiser David managed to persuade her to buy thanks to the frigid wind from the late snowstorm. At least the weather was good for something.

David put a sign on the door saying 'Closed for Lunch' and joined Patrick in the back.

Patrick had eaten half of his tuna melt but his mood didn't seem to have improved. David didn't say anything, instead he sat down and drank his now cold coffee and ate his lunch as fast as possible. This would go a lot better if he could eat beforehand.

Patrick didn't speak while David ate, merely drank his tea and stared into space. It wasn't a particularly happy look on his face and David wished, more than anything, that he hadn't put that look on his boyfriend's face. He didn't know what to say to make it better and decided he would just have to follow Patrick's lead.

Eventually Patrick put his cup of tea down. "I just want to say something."

"Okay." David was better now than he had been at the start of his and Patrick's relationship, he didn't immediately jump to the worst case scenario. However, old habits died hard and he didn't quite know how to stop the little voice at the back of his head going, 'this was the last straw, that's it, no more Patrick'. Rather than envision anymore doom scenarios, he nodded at Patrick encouragingly.

"Yes, it's my apartment and I want my boyfriend, who I love, to be comfortable there. You've been so cold that you've gone back to the motel simply for the heat rather than to see your family or Stevie. David, I can compromise on this. I want you to feel chilly enough that you would prefer to be cuddling with me rather than so cold you can't think of anything else but that." Patrick looked upset at the end of this and without thinking too hard about it, David pulled him into a hug. He loved having Patrick close, even if it was because he was upset over something David did.

"I'm sorry, Patrick." And he was. He knew why he did what he did but he could also see how Patrick must look at it and it was painful enough from his side, let alone from Patrick's. "I love you."

"I love you too." Patrick's words were muffled into his sweater but David understood them all the same. They pulled apart after a few seconds, but only enough so they could see each other's faces. "Look, you wear leather sweaters in the middle of summer so no, I don't think you've ever going to be completely comfortable in the middle of winter."

"That's true," David interjected.

"But I do want you to feel comfortable with me. It may be my apartment but I meant what I said when I got it, I want you to be there a lot."

"I know, Patrick." David stroked a hand over the back of Patrick's head, enjoying the feel of his hair against the palm of his hand. "I did like the open fire. And maybe a few more blankets on my side of the bed."

The smile that came over Patrick's face started with his eyes and then slowly lifted the corners of his lips. It was one of utmost love and David could never get tired of seeing it directed at him.

"Well, I'm not having any fires in the summer so we should get in as many as possible." Patrick's tone of voice had gone back to his usual, light teasing one and David instinctively went to repress the smile that wanted to appear at the sound of it. He leaned down to kiss Patrick instead, when they were distracted by a knock on the glass door of the shop.

"What part of 'gone for lunch' do people not understand?" David complained but Patrick was already detangling the two of them and putting on his customer service face.

"We have technically finished lunch." He brushed a kiss over David's cheek. "Date tonight in front of the fireplace?"

"Sounds perfect." As David cleared up what remained of their lunch, he noticed Patrick stop briefly at the thermostat on the way to deal with the customer and had to duck his head to make sure he didn't scare off the customer with his delighted grin. God, he adored that man.


End file.
